R & R leave.............

The last tour was 2.5 weeks and finished on last Tuesday night. Now it a bit of rest and relaxation time!!! Ha Ha Ha!!

The tour went fairly smoothly with only one or two minor glitches, mostly due to time and weather. The first days drive from Johannesberg to Misty Mountain Lodge in Mpumalanga was unpleasant due to the very high number of fatal and near-fatal accidents on the highway. I can only assume that some drivers think that by driving at 120+ kph in driving rain will stop their vehicles getting wet. We came across or were stopped (by the traffic police) at no fewer that 6 multi-vehicle pile-ups. Anyway enough of that. Here is the funny bit of my trip.

I had the misfortune of getting my legs covered in mud at Mbotyi on the Wild Coast. I decided to take a walk along the coastal path to look for photo opportunity's not knowing that during the rainy season there had been a massive mud slide and half of the hillside had come down. Where the mud slide had happened the path was non existent so I climbed high above to cross, all was well. On my return I decided to go through the area of the mud slide and noticed some seepage of water above where I was making my way through. OK, lets go a bit higher to miss any soft ground, I managed to negotiate through some trees and down a bank of about 1 meter. In front of me at this stage is an area of dry soil and about 2 meters to the firm path ahead. I tested the smoothest looking area by throwing a stone at it and the stone just bounced off, there were no decent sized stones or branches that I could have used to really test to see if it would take my weight. Step off and the ground just gives way under me, the crust was no more that a few centimeters thick, underneath was soft oozing mud, I went in up to my knees. I extracted myself and carried on to the river, took off my boots and socks, washed them and then went back to the lodge to put them out to dry. Luck was on my side that afternoon as the sun was really hot and everything dried out for packing the next day.

On my next trip I think I will pick up a piece of drift wood from the beach then go for my walk! Lesson learned.......!

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go............

"My bags are packed and I'm ready to go, the taxis waiting, he's blown his horn....."

Is that not how the song goes, well here I am on the eve of another Grand Tour of South Africa. In the morning I will leave Cape Town and head north to Johannesburg (flying of course!) There I pick up my car and negotiate the roads from OR Tambo Airport (thats the new name for the Johannesburg International Airport, used to be known as Jan Smuts) to Rivonia where I will stay for 1 night only! (Phew). There I will meet up with my international travelers and the next morning we head out for a long drive, 14 days worth, to arrive in Cape Town on the 18th having seen, tasted, smelt and experienced a very good portion of the country.

The one thing that I did not reckon on was the fact that my camera bag is so heavy, all 10.5 kg and SAA will only allow 7!!!!!!

The answer lies in tomorrow morning!!